Jamestown, TN and Big South Fork (part 1)

I thought about staying at the campground in Big South Fork National Park,  but since I was going to stay 2 weeks, I decided to stay at Maple Hill RV campground.  

One of my main reasons for coming to this area was the Big South Fork National River and Recreational Area.  I hiked the Slave Falls loop hike one day.  The falls were not great, but the hike was!  Below is the first of many rock houses (I would have called this one a small cave).  This is Indian Rock House.

 

I enjoy looking at the different colors and patterns in the rocks.

Hiking around huge rocks, over arches, under over hangs – I love it!!!!

The area is known for it’s many arches.  The one above is Needle Arch.

As I mentioned, Slave Falls wasn’t that great.  But the trail was well worth the hike!!  This is one of several falls where the water falls over a rock overhang and a trail leads behind the falls.

Not far from Slave Falls, is Twin Arches.  The trail to these arches is listed as moderate to difficult. I believe the reason is due to the access down.  In some write-ups I read the trail has steep stairs; in other write-ups, they were called ladders – I don’t know what they are, but they were steep.  They did keep people off the fragile sandstone.

The North Arch is 62 feet high with a 51 foot clearance.  The trees kind of hide this one.

The South Arch is 103 feet high with a 70 foot clearance.

Close to Big South Fork is Pickett State Park.  I went there several days for hiking or just a picnic by the river. One of my favorite hikes was a loop that consisted of Natural Bridge and Hazard Cave.

While looking at Natural Bridge, some other hikers crossed the arch/bridge -

On hot days, Hazard Cave is a great place to cool off.  I’m guessing it was at least 10 degrees cooler.  At first I thought the first picture was the cave, but as I continued I realized the actual cave was a bit further down--

Even though it was hot, I enjoyed the trail. 

I am always intrigued when I see a tree and how they grow around rocks. 

After hiking, I sat at one of the picnic tables and enjoyed my lunch by the river.

I really enjoyed this area and have too many pictures for one blog, so I will publish this one and post part 2  of Jamestown, TN in a day or 2. 

Townsend, TN (The Smokies)

As I mentioned in the previous blog, I ended up spending some time in Townsend, TN.  If you know Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Townsend is close to Cades Cove.  It’s called the quiet side of the Smokies. And it is, if you compare it to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. 

I hiked my favorite trail, the Cucumber Gap loop close to Elkmont.  One of my favorite parts of this trail is the first couple of miles beside the river.

Since I have visited this area many times, I promised myself that I would hike a place or 2 that I had never hiked before.  The first new place was the Walker homestead.  I learned that when this area first became a national park  (late 1930’s) the government bought the land from people who lived in the area and many moved.  But for those who didn’t, they leased the land back from the government and they could do so for their lifetime.  Apparently many people who leased the land eventually moved because their way of life had been taken from them.  They could no longer hunt and many small businesses closed.  But the Walker sisters decided to stay and were there until the last sister died in 1964. 

At the beginning of the trail is the Little Greenbrier School.  This school was built in 1882 and used until 1936.

Another of my favorite hikes is Abrams Falls.  I believe I have blogged about this trail in the past.   The problem with this hike is the trailhead is in Cades Cove so you may have to fight the traffic on the one-way scenic loop.  And what did I see when I got there this time-

It was closed.  I later learned that this trail had a lot of damage from a hurricane a few weeks before.  But I did get to see some bears not too far from the drive on Cades Cove. 

In most pictures they were walking away from me. 

Another of my “new to me” hikes was Alum Cave Bluffs.  I wasn’t sure how far I would go up the trail.  I think it was listed as a moderately difficult trail up to the Alum Cave Bluff, but someone had warned me that there were some areas that were a bit scary.  I ended up turning around shortly after Arch Rock.  I didn’t quite make it to the Bluffs.  I have been asked about hiking alone and part of my answer is I know my limits.  This trail wasn’t the most difficult I have been on, but it had rained recently and part of the trail was on rock – some smooth (and slippery) and some very jagged.  After a while of walking very carefully I decided I needed to try this trail again when it wasn’t so wet.

But the arch was neat. 

The stairs thru the arch were very steep and slick, but I went for it – just very slow!

Another trail that I hiked was Laurel Falls.  This is a very popular trail, it’s paved most of the way.

My mom drove up and meet me one day in Sevierville, TN.  We went to the Applewood Farmhouse for lunch and then did some shopping at the outlet stores in Sevierville.  

From Townsend, I headed to Jamestown, TN which is close to Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.  I had been in this area before, but only for a day or so and saw enough to know I wanted to go back.  My next blog will be about Jamestown and the surrounding area. 

Columbus Belmont State Park

My plans after leaving the Memphis area were to head north along the Mississippi.  Because of the flood, my plans changed.  So I headed to Columbus Belmont State Park in Kentucky for a few days.  This area played a role in the Civil War and has several historical displays.  But the main reason I went was to relax!

My morning walk consisted of walking beside the Mississippi, thru the campground and around some historical stuff.  I’m not really into history, but found some of it interesting.

This canon was made around 1840 and could shoot up to 1.5 miles!  In the afternoon I walked again and relaxed on the swing that was between my RV and the Mississippi. 

In the evening I again relaxed and enjoyed the sunset.  Have I mentioned recently that I really like retirement!!!!

From here, I went to the Land Between the Lakes, but only stayed a couple of days.  Part of the area was closed due to flooding and storm damage.  I had looked forward to visiting this area, but I really didn’t find it that interesting.  So I ended up with a week and no plans.  I decided to go to the Smokies, one of my favorite places.  I’ll post about it in my next blog.

Pickwick Dam, TN and Southaven, MS (suburb of Memphis, TN)

I got to Pickwick Landing State Park and started driving around the park.  I was a bit concerned because most of their sites are not even close to level.  I finally found one that I liked, but still used from 3 – 5 inches of leveling blocks on 3 tires.  Actually there was a more level site, but this was a nicer site.  I later walked around and found about 8 sites that I would try if I come back here.  If I do come back to this area, I would try this park first and if I couldn’t find a level site I would go across the river to Pickwick Dam TVA campground.  All their sites are level and fairly close to the water – most have a view.  But the sites are closer together.  Below is a picture of the lake from my hike in the park and a picture of trumpet honeysuckle.

I drove to Pinson Mounds State Archaeological park.  It was a bit of a drive, but it sounded interesting and it is.  It is really a preserve of prehistoric remains. 

 

Did you read that?  These mounds were constructed 1 – 300 A.D.!!

When I see how old it is, I always wonder about how they age something like this.  At one of the parks, I saw some information on how they use carbon dating and other methods, but I still wonder how accurate it is.  Regardless, the mounds are old! This park allows bikes on the trails, so just to be different I rode my bike. 

From Pickwick, my plans were to go to Memphis.  But I was hearing on the news about the floods along the Mississippi and tributaries.  I called the campground that I planned on going to and they said they were ok.  So I headed to Southaven, Mississippi.  It is just south of Memphis.  I was at the park during the crest of the Mississippi in Memphis.  While the news made it sound like all of Memphis was underwater, that was not the case.  Places close to the water were flooded, but most of the city was open.   This is a picture of some business close to downtown Memphis and the river. 

Above is a picture of the intersection of Beale St and Riverside Drive.  You can just make out the tops of the orange safety barrels.  In addition to the flood, I saw many news crews during my walk along the flooded river banks.

Below is a picture of CNN’s reporter, Rob Marciano, about to start a broadcast. 

 

While in Memphis, I went to the National Ornamental Metal Museum.  I thought it was just ok and found the gates to be the most interesting part of the museum.  There was a lot of detail in them.  Every “rosette” was different and made by different metalsmiths.  From flowers, to abstract designs, to hands holding a tea cup – very different.

One of the reasons I decided on Memphis was the zoo.  I had read that they had a great zoo and it is!! 

The Red Panda above found a tree branch that fit him just right.

I had seen Siamang Monkeys before, but I had never heard them howl.  I’m guessing you could hear these monkeys from a mile away. The picture above was taken during the middle of a howl.

From here, I had thought I would head to the North West corner of Tennessee, but the campground I had planned to stay at was closed due to the flood.  So I stayed in Memphis a few extra days before heading North to Columbus-Belmont State Park in Kentucky.   More on that in my next blog.

Manchester, TN

A quick update, before I get to what I did around Manchester.  As mentioned in my previous blog, I went back to look at the Mountain City Campground that I was at before the storms hit.  We had to wait until the tree was cut before we could leave so it was about 6:00 pm before we could get the car out of the garage.  We had heard that Mountain City had been hit pretty bad.  The campground where I was staying was hit, but the owners had already cleaned up quite a bit.  I couldn’t tell for sure if my RV would have been damaged if I would have stayed, but it looked like there were 3 6 – 8 inch limbs that were down in the trees surrounding my spot.  One RV did have damage and had a tarp over the roof.  I am very glad I left a few hours before the storm hit!!!  But the campground was lucky just down the road many trees were in half and building were damaged.

On my trip to Tennessee, I had to go a bit out of the way due to storm damage and several roads were closed.  I ended up going South and then turning back North up I-75.  Ringgold, GA was one of the towns that was hit by tornadoes.  The pictures below were taken from my car going down I-75 at the Ringgold exit.

Highway Signs --

Hotel --

It was amazing to see the damage and once again made me think about what I would do if a storm like this hit while I was in my RV.

I decided to stayed in Manchester, TN because it was central to several places I wanted to go.  I went to Chattanooga a couple of times and once on the way back I stopped at the National Cornbread festival.  (Note – I stopped there after my Weight Watcher meeting, so I would have time to work off the samples of cornbread I ate before my next meeting!)

Old Stone Fort Archaeological Park is an interesting place.  Not only is it a 2000+ year old Indian ceremonial site, but it has some beautiful scenery.  The Indians built mounds and walls that formed an enclosure that was more than 1 mile around.  The walls were a bit hard to photograph, you can’t really tell it is more than just a hill so I included the one with the sign!

Ringgold Falls is a waterfall that is on private property.  The people who own it are nice enough to allow people to walk to the falls.

Sewanee Natural Bridge was a neat little place.  It wasn’t a long hike, but a nice “bridge”.  Actually the trail took you across the top of it.

I also went to Foster falls and did a short hike.

Another place I went hiking was in Short Springs Natural Area.  I was looking forward to seeing Machine Falls and took a very steep trail down to see it.  Once I got down to the bottom I saw a sign that said Machine Falls 100 yards, but then I saw that I was going to have to walk through the creek to get to it.  I don’t know if that was normal or if it was because they have had so much rain.  Even though it was a tough trail down, I decided it wasn’t worth walking through the creek, so I headed back up.

From Manchester, I headed to Pickwick Landing State Park and then to Southaven, MS (just south of Memphis).

We survived, but I’m stuck in Georgia!!

 

I started my trip back to Georgia at Watson Mill State Park in Comer, GA (close to Athens, GA). 

After visiting with friends and hiking around the park, I headed to the North Georgia mountains.  I stayed in Dillard, GA for the first part of my stay in the mountains, and then moved about 6 miles to Mountain City for the last part.  My original plans were to leave this morning (Thursday, April 28) for Tennessee.

I did some hiking while here.  One of my favorite hikes in the area is Panther’s Creek Trail.  It has been damaged in recent years by storms and has some major erosion problems, so while I still like it the trail is harder. 

I also went to Tallulah Falls Gorge twice.  I had walked the North Rim trail before, but never the South rim until last week.  I like it better – less people and I think better views.  If you look very carefully at the top of the picture below, about 1/4 of the way over from the left you will see a footbridge with people on it.  (Don’t forget you can click on a picture to enlarge it).

During the 2.5 weeks I’ve been here there have been several bad storms.  Yesterday after hearing how bad the storms were supposed to be, I decided to stay at my mom's condo.  This is one of the few times I have an option of where to stay, so I took advantage of it!!  My sister had gotten into town just the day before so we had fun – until the storm started. 

When I got here, my mother suggested I move my car to one of the empty garages so if there was hail it would not get damaged.  During the night a huge tree fell and missed the building by inches.  Actually leaves or small branches from the tree wiped the pollen off the screen on my mother’s screened porch.  Another few inches and several screened porches would have been badly damaged.

So, while I have no damage to my RV or car, I’m stuck.  The tree is right in front of the garage doors and I can’t get my car out of the garage.  Someone is coming this afternoon to cut and move the tree.

My mom’s condo is the middle one on the left side. Things in the screens porch were blown over, but nothing major. 

The second picture shows my RV safe and sound in the clubhouse parking lot, with the fallen tree in the foreground.  Based on what we saw on TV (especially Alabama) and what we’ve heard about some areas around here we were very lucky.   

We have also heard that Mountain City and the campground I left yesterday got hit bad.  I hope to get up there this afternoon and take a look around.   The owners are the nicest owners that I have met in my almost 2 years of full-timing, so I hope it’s not too bad.  

Hopefully I will be able to get out tomorrow.  I’m headed to Manchester, Tennessee for several days. 

DeSoto State Park–Fort Payne, AL

After leaving Louisiana, I headed toward DeSoto State Park in Fort Payne, Alabama.  I have previously camped in this park, but in my camper van.  I like this area and it’s a nice state park.  Those who have been reading my blog, will probably recognize why I like this trail.  The rocks!!!  This trail is one of several within the park.

Desoto Falls is not in the State park, but down the road.

Little River Canyon National Preserve is just a short drive away.  There is a little bit of hiking, and a nice scenic drive.  There are also some very steep roads in the area!! I tried to take a picture of one of them, but it didn’t really show how steep the road was. 

Since I will be so close to the GA mountains, I decided to stop for a couple of weeks to visit my mom and see some friends.  More on Ga in the next blog (Where I will tell you about how I survived the storm last night!)